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what gives??

I'm in the process of cooking a small (4#) pork shoulder, and this is rapidly turning into a turbo cook.

I can't seem to get the temp in my egg below 290. Seemed to have it dialled in at 250 when I put the butt on, now it's crept up to 290 and will NOT move from that point. What gives? The bottom vent is open -- barely -- 1/8" and the daisy wheel is all but closed fully, maybe 1/16" open... still 290... may be having pulled pork for lunch instead of dinner!

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Comments

With those settings I would think your temp would be lower. It sounds in line with what I usually have for 250°. Did you calibrate your dome the thermo? If so close them a little more and see if the temp starts dropping. It will take a while. Did you have a large amount of lump burning in the beginning?

Haven't calibrated it in a while, but it seemed to be pretty accurate during the last cook. I lit it in one spot (in the centre) using my MAPP torch, not a lot of lump was burning to start.

I've closed down the vent a little more to see what happens, but now I'm worried about snuffing out the fire!

All I can say is that this is completely unlike the last low-n-slow I did where 250 was way more open than this... I'm using RO this time 'round though, where last time it was Maple Leaf (an all round better-but-much-more-expensive-charcoal)

Don't worry about it. When it's ready, just double foil it, wrap it in a few towels and put in a small cooler. It will hold temp all day in there and be delicious when it time to pull. 290 is ok other than timing but you aren't going to hurt the meat.

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When I've over shot temp in the past I'd adjust my vents down and after the fire dies down a bit I'll lift the lid and leave it open for 5-10 seconds to cool it down. Sometimes that's what it takes to get the temps back down where they belong.

Sometimes when you close the top vent the temp will rise before going down. On the flipside sometimes when you open the top vent the temp will drop first then go up. I believe it has to do with how much hot air is leaving the egg. It should stabilize at the new temp and drop down.

Sometimes when you close the top vent the temp will rise before going down. On the flipside sometimes when you open the top vent the temp will drop first then go up. I believe it has to do with how much hot air is leaving the egg. It should stabilize at the new temp and drop down.

... Except it went up and stayed there (been about an hour now). This is the twilight zone cook.

@ acr-I'm with you on the twilight zone behavior-the whole temperature control deal is about air flow (given you have adequate fuel aka lump...) so I would be interested if you find anything about how you have defied physics and fire science 101.

I am in no way a temp control expert, but in situations like that it feels like the daisy wheel holds heat in. I find that removing the daisy wheel when you have the bottom vent so close to closed seems to let the heat escape in a more controlled way than lifting the lid. As stike pointed out to me, the temperature relies on air going in the bottom and out the top of a closed system. The greater of the 2 barriers determines the temperature.

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